M.A.
* * * * *
THE MOONS OF MARS.
Since Professor Proctor wrote the paper entitled "Mars, the Planet of
War," published in this number, there has been made, in relation to
its subject, a discovery that the scientists say will rank among the
most brilliant achievements of astronomy.
A great difference once thought to exist between Mars and the other
planets was that he had no moons; but during the night of the 16th of
August, Professor Hall, of the U.S. Naval Observatory at Washington,
D.C., actually saw through his telescope that Mars has a moon. On the
18th of August another was seen, smaller than the first and nearer to
the planet. The larger satellite is believed to be not more than ten
miles in diameter: it is less than 12,000 miles distant from its
primary, and its period of revolution about it is 30 hours 14 minutes.
The distance of the smaller moon is 3,300 miles, and its period 7
hours 38 minutes. There is no doubt that these newly found celestial
bodies are the smallest known.
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